I'd Put U and I Together
by Marchenplushie28
Summary: The A to Z of Anna and Kratos. Kratos/Anna
1. Anna

**Title: **I'd Put You and I Together

**Description: **The A to Z of Anna and Kratos. Kratos/Anna

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**A ****is for **_**A**_**nna:**

The first time he sees the ragged little human, she is death and paleness, trapped behind the heavy set wire fence of a Human Ranch. He is still working for Cruxis at the time, and though he has doubts of the organization festering in his mind, he is not yet an all out traitor. He would barely have noticed her, if it had not been for a single moment.

It was not love at first sight, for Kratos does not believe in such things, having lived so very long and seen so very much. There is perhaps, admiration at first sight however.

There is a line, a procession of humans, moving slowly. They carry heavy crates into the Desian buildings—or, rather, all but drag them in with their weak limbs and weaker spirits.

One trips, falls, and stops the progression. It is a mere boy, who could not be past the tender age of ten, but there will still surely be punishment. The Desians have no sympathy.

Anna, as of yet unnamed to him, pulls the boy up and scuttles to the ground in his place, planting her hands and knees in the dirt. She coughs, and trembles from the pain of such a rough decent, and when the Desian leading the group calls out ("Who stopped the line? We don't tolerate disobedience scum!"), she raises her hand as guilty.

Kratos does not believe in love at first sight, as we have previously mentioned, but there is something certainly close to it swelling in him as he watches her take three whip lashings without a sound. So small, so soft, so breakable. Yet, at the same time, she seems…invincible.

_Amazing_, he thinks, and in a way that little incident, as coincidental and fragile as humans themselves, seals their fates.

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**A/N:** _Hello everyone! What's up? How are you? I'm doing well myself. Currently I've decided that, since I love this couple and have never really written about it, I sort of need to. So now I'm writing little drabbles about them for each letter of the Alphabet. It's just for fun, but I hope you enjoy! Oh, and they won't be in any particular order, just so you know. Some may follow each other one after the next, but I'll probably jump around a lot in the timeline._


	2. Babble

**A/N: **_Second chapter/drabble/thing. Enjoy!_

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_**B **_**is for **_**B**_**abble:**

She speaks often, for the first while that they travel together.

Although her body still lags from the lack of nourishment at the Ranch, her energy is renewed almost immediately after they escape from its confines. She babbles thanks for the first night, with bright, hopeful eyes, and her hands move tentatively towards the motions of an open, trusting person.

In the days after, she babbles on everything else. Like a brook, the words flow continuously in little bubbling increments. "The sky is beautiful, isn't it?"—"Where are we headed?"—"I love this part of the country."

Once in a while, something meaningful even slips through. "I want to make the world better, and even if I have to die to do that—well, I guess I'd be dying then, I mean."

For these snippets, he keeps listening to the babble, picking out the beautiful bits that would otherwise flow away with the rest, unnoticed.

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**End**


	3. Continent

**A/N:** _I feel like Anna would be a person with the sweetness of Colette, and yet the temper of Sheena/Raine. That way Kratos would be like 'awww persevering human', and then when he got all mopey it'd be all 'scaaaaary human'. Because really, he needs someone to put him in his place with his mopey-ness.  
_

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**C is for _C_ontinent**

They say that no man is an island. Kratos agrees. No man is an island.

Anna is a continent.

She supports, and supports, and _gives_ to everyone. Every one of her natural resources—sweetness, intelligence, perseverance—are offered freely to those who live for her, supported by her.

And to those who betray her? To those who hurt her, and leave her feeling barren, empty, inside? Those she decimates with her natural, quaking fury, which builds and build and builds until—BAM. All that's left of them are shivering, weak, remnants of people.

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**End**


	4. Demands

**A/N:** _Hey! I'm back with anooother drabble. I'm not really sure if this one makes complete sense, because my head is...just...not cooperating right now. Hopefully it does. :P  
_

_Thanks to saffiremoon21, Link Fangirl01, and Captain Arbitrary for reviewing. You guys put a smile on my face. :)_

**_

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D _is for **_**D**_**emands**

Kratos makes demands that, he knows, she thinks are silly.

"Don't go out alone," he says, and the tone in his voice says it's more than just thugs he's worried about. Still, she laughs and replies that she can defend herself if she needs to.

"Don't tell people you know me," he says, and it confuses her and she looks at him like he's just a little nutty.

"Don't do something stupid," he orders, and this one she outright cackles at.

"I'm me," she says. "How do you really expect me _not_ to do something stupid?"

He knows she's right, but still he continues to tell her this and that—the things she _must_ do.

Eventually she sits down next to him one night, a small fire crackling in front of them. They're just a day away from reaching Luin, where they'll restock and he'll try and demand of her that she go nowhere and she'll ignore every word. She looks at him, knowing this, and asks, "Why, Kratos? You know I can't do those things."

He doesn't answer, and so she _demands_, "Why?" And he lowers his head, and clasps his hands, and relents. Maybe, at least, she'll listen if he tells her (about Cruxis, and angels, and how stupid he'd been).

Maybe. Somehow though, even as the tale slips from his mouth word by painful word, he doubts that.

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**End**


	5. Early

**A/N:** Apologies for the long wait on this. Busy life, you know? I tried to do something actually happy this time, but I think it just turned out sappy. Ah well. Here it is anyway. ;P**  
**

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_**E**_** is for **_**E**_**arly**

'The early bird catches the worm' is not a school of thought that Anna buys into in the least. She sleeps through early morning, when the crickets are out and Kratos is packing up camp, until the sun's rays wake her, flooding the earth with light.

Kratos doesn't mind though. He packs up their belongings and sits and watches her in the darkness of before-dawn, perfectly content to do so. He watches as the light from the just rising sun seeps into her hair and weaves gold into the brown strands. He watches as she shifts and sighs, pulling an extra shirt of his (currently being used as a makeshift blanket) up over her eyes. Then he watches as she slowly pulls the shirt back down and lets open her eyes, and he smiles back at her as her lips quirk at the sight of him watching.

She is not an early bird, but she is his, and she is wonderful.

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**End**


	6. Frightened

**A/N:** One in Anna's POV. And next time I'm going to write a non-angsty happy one! :D (Well, maybe. Hopefully.)

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**F is for **_**F**_**rightened**

Anna can tell that sometimes Kratos is frightened. He's scared of her—for her—and she doesn't know what to do to make that look leave his face or how to stop the quick recession of emotions that comes with that fear.

"Kratos," she tries. She smiles. She's disarming. "Kratos, I'm right here, right now."

He looks up at her and despite her words she sees the fear building. "But not always," he replies, and there is nothing she can think to say to that.

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**End**


	7. Godly

**A/N**: So...another for Anna. I'm trying to do some more of her so I can kind of flesh out how her character should be on paper. A little bit of Kratos worship here but, you know, everyone's got a think this about people they love at some point right? Especially if the people they love have _shiny awesome wings of awesome-ness_. Just saying.

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**_G_ is for _G_odly**

Kratos seems almost godly to her, sometimes. The words he says are perfect, the sword he wields always cuts true, and, well, he's got sparkly glowing _wings_. If that doesn't seem at least angelical to someone, she'd call them crazy.

"Kratos," she says one day, "You're a miracle. A majestic, godly, wonderful miracle."

He smiles and laughs at her words, shaking his head. "A miracle?" he asks, and she nods and he laughs again. "No, no. A fallen angel, perhaps, but not a miracle. You Anna, are my only saving grace."

And for those words, for his _denial_ of the godliness, the miracle that he is, Anna thinks that he's just that bit more amazing. Not that he'll ever believe it.

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**End**


	8. House

**A/N:** SCHOOLS OUT! So happy right now. Though I feel saying that is a bit ironic, as this really isn't happy. At all. Ah well. Hope you enjoy anyway, and my apologies for the wait.

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**_H_ is for _H_ouse**

She'd only given voice to the wish once. It was the night after they had found out she was pregnant, and they were staying in a guest room at the village medic's house. Wrapped up loosely in warm wool blankets, the lamp beside them casting a flickering glow in the room, Anna stared up at the ceiling, seemingly in thought, while Kratos lay beside her quietly.

"Kratos?" she'd murmured. Without looking at him, her fingers absently plucked at the seams of his nightshirt. "I…sometimes I wish…that we could be normal. Have real family. Not be on the run. Have…have a nice house like this one and never have to worry—at least not like we do now."

She turned her head to face him, eyes scrunched with worry. "What's going to happen Kratos? I'm so…oh god. Just…you know what? Forget it. Just forget it. It doesn't matter." Then she smiled and she laughed without meaning, and went back to staring at the ceiling.

Kratos waited a moment, watching her, then sighed something as sad and old as he was. He took Anna's hand in his, squeezing it tightly, leaned over to blow out the candle, and forgot. There was no use dreaming at times like that.

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**End**


	9. Icicle

**A/N: **Family dynamics. Gotta love 'em.

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**_I_ is for _I_cicle**

The first thing that Kratos learned when he, Anna, and Lloyd stopped in Flanoir for the day, was that in the eyes of a child icicles made very good toy swords. The second thing he learned when he, Anna, and Lloyd stopped in Flanoir for the day, was that 'icicles were in no way shape or form safe for children of Lloyd's age to play with' and that 'if he ever acted so carelessly about their child's safety again he would be getting a whipping from Anna that could very well result in permanent brain damage'. Kratos took the second lesson to heart, confiscating the icicle. Instead of having his boy play make-believe with the so called "dangerous object", he taught Lloyd how to make snowballs. And then, of course, he taught Lloyd how to throw those snowballs at his mother.

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**End**


	10. Jewel

**A/N: **This probably would've been better suited for something like "r is for ring", but I was pulling an absolute blank for J. *shrugs* Oh, and a note: I am leaving on the 25th for camp and I won't be back for three weeks, so there won't be any updates until I get back._**  
**_

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_**J**_** is for **_**J**_**ewel**

The ring is not adorned with anything fancy. It is not jewel encrusted. It does not have an ounce of gold in the band.

Anna cries all the same when she sees it.

She is repeating an emphatic 'yes, yes, yes' over in whispers, the tears making sleek, shining lines down her cheeks as she carefully cradles the cool silver band in her palm.

When she gains control of her emotions, she looks up at him and smiles and says, "It's perfect."

Kratos sighs. "That's good. I know it's nothing grand but—"

Anna doesn't let him finish the sentence. She shakes her head, and her smile grows wider. "It's perfect," she reiterates. "Jewels and grand things aren't my style anyway, Kratos. It's absolutely perfect."

Kratos stares at her for a moment, almost not believing, because Anna doesn't want something better. Anna doesn't want gems and riches. Anna is unlike any girl he's ever met before but—he should know this by now, shouldn't he?

He plucks the ring from her palm, smiling back at her, and slips it on her finger. He closes his eyes for a moment, cradling her hand in his as she had cradled the ring moments before. Then, because his brain refuses to work at this point, with Anna's petite hands wrapped warmly in his, he simply says again, "That's good."

And it is.

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**End**


	11. Kratos

**A/N:** Hey. So, I'm back. This would have been up sooner, but I've kind of been addicted to just sitting around and watching Netflix since I got back from camp. That deprivation of TV shows makes them all the more sweet to get back to, you know? :P_**  
**_

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_**K**_** is for **_**K**_**ratos**

Anna says his name often. She's never felt inclined before to say anyone's name unless calling them—attempting to differentiate them from the crowd. But Kratos? It's something different with him.

It's the way the syllables of his name roll off her tongue. The way whenever she says it he turns and smiles at her. The way that simple little word brings him back to her from where he so often seems to go when his eyes become unfocused, his manner distant.

It's the way that she says "Kratos" and he'll be right at her side, protecting her from all the evil things. (Though, she often argues, she really can fight perfectly well.)

It's the way that when she says it, he's _hers._

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**End**_  
_


	12. Lloyd

**A/N:** Um, not much to say this time actually. Enjoy :)**_  
_**

* * *

**_L_ is for_ L_loyd**

Lloyd is born in late June, on a day that's at least twenty degrees hotter than it should be. Kratos doesn't remember much of the town they were in at the time, or the other people there. Most of the day is a blur of Anna screaming and cursing him, of the nurse's reassuring tones, of the painful grasp on his hand that Anna tightened with every '_push_' from the doctor.

What he does remember, quite vividly though, is looking at his son for the first time. And what he does remember about that day, is that for the first time in a very, _very _long time, he looks down at this little human and can think of nothing more to say than three simple words.

"He's perfect, Anna."

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**End**


	13. Murder

_**A/N: **_Anna needs to come back to life or something. Really. It's so dang depressing._**  
**_

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_**M**_** is for **_**Murder**_

Kratos has killed before. He's murdered in cold blood. He should be able to move, should be able to do the same now. And he knows it's different, and that it can't be anywhere near as easy as the other times, but his body's reluctance to move frightens him almost as much as the idea of the act itself. He's always been the merciless soldier, the one who does anything he's told, but now he loves Anna—loves her so much it hurts to think—and he can't do this.

He has to.

The thing that used to be Anna is screeching and moving toward him so fast and he isn't sure where Lloyd is anymore. The rain is pulsing down around them in torrents. He thinks he hears Anna's voice, thinks he hears his name being called in desperation, but then it's gone and there's just a monster charging at him.

He has to do this.

He pulls out his sword, and moves to strike.

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**End**


	14. Noishe

_**A/N: **_...I don't even know. I just started with a conversation and went from there. Hopefully it worked out._**  
**_

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_**N **_**is for **_**N**_**oishe**

The first thing Anna does upon seeing Noishe for the first time is give Kratos an extremely confused look. "So this is…Noishe," she says, squinting at the green and white creature.

Kratos nods. "Yes," he says.

Anna opens her mouth, and then closes it. She takes a moment, and then opens her mouth again and asks, "Is it a dog?"

Kratos almost laughs as Noishe lets out an undignified snort beside him. "No, Anna. Noishe is not a dog."

Anna crosses her arms, scrunching up her nose in concentration as she steps forward to examine Noishe more closely. She reaches out, and prods Noishe with one slender finger. "Is it a bear?" she asks.

Noishe gives yet another undignified huff, and Kratos replies, "Anna, he is obviously _not_ a bear."

"….well, he could be. Maybe," Anna says, crossing her arms and huffing in return.

"Anna."

"He's as big as one!" she protests.

Kratos sighs, patting Noishe slightly as if to reassure him that 'she is not always like this', and shakes his head. "There are many things that are as large as bears that are _not _bears."

"…fine. He's not a bear. Is he a fox?" Anna asks.

Noishe stomps his paw against the ground and makes a final agitated whine, which Kratos does him the favor of translating as, "Noishe is a Protozoan, Anna, and I believe he is becoming indignant with all these cases of mistaken identity."

"Oh." Anna looks a bit confused at the word, and she purses her lips, but, as she often does, she quickly moves past this. Instead of pursuing the line of questioning, she brightens and says, "Can I pet him?"

To which, of course, Kratos and Noishe exchange a pet-to-master look of exasperation and Kratos replies, "…if you really must."

Anna smiles, reaches out a hand, and pats Noishe on the head. She gives him a pleasant look, pats him again, and then says, "I like your protozoan, Kratos. He's very fluffy."

Kratos decides not to deign this with a reply.

* * *

**End**


	15. Obvious

******A/N:** Happy Thanksgiving wonderful people.

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**_O _is for _O_bvious**

It's dark out when Kratos finally asks the question that he's been thinking since day one. They set up camp hours ago, and their fire is beginning to dwindle into a smaller, flickering warmth. Anna is sitting beside him, wrapped up tightly in a blanket, her shoulder resting against his side.

He opens his mouth to ask something entirely different ("Should I get more firewood?" or "We should probably get some sleep now, yes?"), but what comes out is, "Why are you still sticking around? You're not in danger anymore."

Anna 'hm's in a half asleep sort of way, and he can feel her exhale softly as she shifts, the warmth of her breath seeping through his shirt's fabric. It takes her a moment, and Kratos almost thinks that she won't reply, but then she says, "I like you, Kratos. Isn't that a bit obvious?" There's a pause, and then she adds, "You do want me around, don't you?"

Kratos almost laughs at the words, and he wraps an arm around her waist, fingers curling around her blanketed hip.

"Of course," he says. "I could have run off and left you a long time ago if I wanted to. Isn't _that_ a bit obvious?"

And then Anna chuckles, a sound tired and full of sedated happiness, and Kratos is very glad that he asked the question.

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**End**


	16. Perfect

_**A/N:**_ ...nothing to say here actually. Enjoy.

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_**P **_**is for **_**P**_**erfect**

Kratos is not perfect. Not by any measure of the word.

His hands are calloused and rough. He never sleeps. He can't trust anyone. He is blunt to the point of rudeness. He cannot, for the life of him, interact with other people like a _normal_ human being. He won't hold her hand in public. He has a terribly bad temper. He _still _won't forgive her for the tomato incident.

Kratos is broken. His beliefs have been chipped at and remade and torn down to be made again. He has had to fight his way through horrible things, and barely lived to tell the tale. He has made mistakes, and he has hurt so many people.

Kratos is very, very far from perfect.

But Anna knows that she is not perfect either. She is just as flawed and chipped and broken as he, and so as Anna slips her hand into his late at night, their fingers filling up the broken spaces between each other's and seeming to fit there just right, she thinks that, really, that's ok with her.

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**End**


	17. Quick

**_A/N:_**I kind of forgot how fanfiction for a while guys. I don't think I've still quite regained the hang of it so...sorry. Next update shall be sooner. And hopefully better.**  
**

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**_Q_ is for _Q_uick**

The first time Anna kisses him, it's almost so quick that he believes it might not have happened.

It's cold out, the air around them swirling with a thick blizzard of snowflakes as they walk back to the small cave that they made camp in. Anna is tucked into his side, shivering every few moments but not saying anything. She talks a lot sometimes, but he's noticed that she never complains. Or, at least, not very often.

He notices a lot of things about Anna these days, he realizes.

He shifts to pull her closer as they walk, trying to buffet the wind, and she looks up at him, her lips quirked in a half smile. "I'm fine, Kratos," she says.

"You're shivering."

"So are _you_." Anna huffs, rolling her eyes when he doesn't let her pull away, and hits his side reproachfully. "Jerk," she says. "What if you get sick?"

Kratos 'hm's thoughtfully, pulling her forward a little faster as their campsite comes into view. "Then," he replies, "I will be sick and you will not be."

They finally reach the cave and Kratos lets go of her, allowing her to step away and brush off as he does the same. Before he can move any further into the cave though, she turns to stop him, placing her hands on both of his shoulders.

"Kratos," she says, "if you get sick, I assure you I will make sure that I get sick too. I'll steal the sickness from you if I have to." And then, she leans up and kisses him. Just like that. A brush of lips against his and then she's stepping back, grinning full on. "See? It wouldn't even be hard. Which means, you better start taking care of yourself mister. I mean, I'm not a damsel in distress after all." Anna laughs, seemingly at the very thought of _her_ as a damsel in distress, and then places her hands on her hips defiantly, watching him.

When, finally, Kratos's mouth decides to work again, he shakes his head and replies, "No, Anna. You certainly aren't a damsel in distress. More like a stubborn, pigheaded little woman. Now would you _get the rest of the way inside_ before you actually do catch a cold?"

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**End**


	18. Repose

**A/N:** I really need to stop saying I'm going to update sooner when I know that I'm a complete procrastinator. *sigh*

* * *

**_R_ is for **_**R**_**epose**

Moments of repose are rare when they are on the run, but Kratos tries his best to find safe places for them to rest. Anna is four months pregnant and though she tries not to complain at the constant moving he knows that she is tired. It's easy to tell by the way she grimaces as she walks—her feet have been hurting her, not to mention her back—and the way she lays her hands on her stomach when they take small breaks, frowning down at it with a worried countenance is no less of a giveaway.

Tonight they are holed up in a small inn by the side of the road that they've been traveling on for the last few days. Anna is fast asleep, sprawled out on top of the inn bed in her nightgown. Kratos sits beside her, awake, his right hand gently pressed against the bulge of her stomach as her own hands so often are. He rubs small circles into her skin through the gown as he watches her, the light from the lamp on the bedside table playing across her face in alternating shadows, and he thinks that the shadows beneath her eyes are much too deep.

Softly, quietly, he promises, "I'll find somewhere for us soon. At least somewhere to stay for a little while."

Anna does not stir and Kratos sighs and looks away hoping that his words hold true.

* * *

**End**


End file.
